Painting – Page 12 – Ink, Yarn & Beer

Direct Watercolor

The other day, I came into possession of a copy of Marc Taro Holmes’ newest book, Direct Watercolor. In spirit, I am much of the same philosophy – little prep, direct painting, thinking ahead, seizing the moment, using colors directly, relying on imagination and happenstance and experience to create a painting. All this requires is just doing it! The “doing it” is the training – you do it, you think, you do again. Like anything, practicing it enhances your skills and brings the mind-muscle memory together in ways that, if you were to consciously thing about, you could never achieve.

Marc mentioned some things I found particularly useful. One is to create a silhouette of what you are working on – create the outer edges and then move inward. Decide if edges are going to meet so that colors can bleed into one another. Keep your edges dry if you don’t want things to bleed from one thing into another. Let the painting dry, but don’t go over it extensively. Other points he made is to work light to dark, large to small, but if you are working on something, do it directly – don’t dance all over the paper.

The silhouette appealed to me immensely, as well as the brushwork. Here are some examples of brushwork and silhouette working together. Once the edges of whatever I was painting were done, I then came in with varied colors to shade or define. The colors really please me in many of these little sketches – the blending, the bleeding, the hard edge against the paper’s white.

Flowers make sense for the silhouette and then move in to blend colors. Above, wet-on-dry. Also, working directly while everything is still wet – as in the tulip on the far right.

Below, some examples of trees to create the illusion of a building (left) and another silhouette then molded to create a shape with shadow (top right). Marc also mentions brushwork to show direction – and the importance to suggest. The grassy strokes on the top left. Finally, a bigger silhouette – here, Morro Rock – created and worked on first (bottom right) before moving into other areas, specifically the dunes and plants in the foreground.

Quick sketches with valuable lessons. While Marc’s book is not a “how to” book, it is a valuable resource for specific techniques. The fact he is such a talented painter makes it look easy, but the truth is, he went from precise lines, to lines and colors, to direct watercolor with a great deal of effort and an entire change of mindset.

Sky, Interrupted

This morning I sat down to practice skies. If I were to do the ones in my neighborhood, they would be blue. That’s all. Just blue. Clouds are not a common sight where I live!

Anyway, so I scooted around YouTube and found some videos that had some good ideas. One showed how to do lifting with tissue, advising not to scrub too hard on lightweight paper. Important to know – I scrubbed a bit of the paper off. Others used some rather wild color combinations, or certainly ones I haven’t thought about using. Add to that, I wasn’t trying to accomplish anything more than playing, so it was altogether a fun way to start the morning.

This first one is a combination of Sodalite Genuine, by Daniel Smith, Ultramarine Blue, and Quinacridone Gold. The Sodalite is a color I picked up on a whim, put in my palette, but had never used until this morning. It granulates wonderfully, and is a good charcoal grey. I think I will be using it again.

Then I started another one, wetting the paper once, letting it soak in a second time, and then wetting it again. I am using Canson XL watercolor paper, which has a nice texture, is about 90#, and is a student grade paper. I like it because it is working out really well for my needs.

After wetting the paper, I decided to start with a gradated wash, using the reverse side of another painting (to save paper, eh?). The brush I used was a flat with rather stiff bristles, and the result was lines throughout the wash. Oh, well. Then I simply lifted the color off. Then I began adding Carbazole Violet and Quinacridone Gold.

And then the phone rang! My brother and his wife in Wisconsin calling, to wish us well for the holidays . . . . the painting was forgotten for the next several minutes, and this is the result.

Regardless as to whether or not this last looks like clouds, the colors have a lot of potential for a dramatic sky some day. I really like the colors! I like both, actually.

White space. No mud. I must be doing something right!

Cinnabon

Nothing like the power of the crop tool in your photo processing software. This is a pretty bad sketch, but it was part of a lot of sketches done at the local mall. On the original page it is all lost in space, but with a square crop, it turned out okay – just okay – but much more presentable.

This morning, I met up with a friend and we went up to one of my favorite local places, the botanical garden a few miles from my house. Before you knew it, 2.5 hours had passed, filled with sketching, painting, chit-chat, and coffee. Not a bad way to spend a sunny morning!

What to Do?

Today I return to work after 10 days off. Those days were filled with all the whirlwind activities of Thanksgiving, but also filled with time to focus on drawing and painting. I tried to do something everyday, which worked, except for yesterday as I had to prepare to return to the classroom. I also went out for a long walk in the local botanical garden with one of the dogs, and that was something I needed – get outside, hike, get into the world of plants.

Now, work looms ahead this morning. Some of my work days are nearly 11 hours long, and it does not leave much room for anything personal. About the only time I have is in the mornings, while I drink my coffee. Instead of looking at the grim and gory news, I plan to try to do a sketch or a watercolor in the morning. For example, find one of my photos (of which I have taken thousands) and use it for the basis of a sketch or painting or both. I just need to continue doing it! The sense of satisfaction with my life, which I have not felt for the past 4 years (since my schedule was changed), is returning. Now I have to keep up the momentum. If I can, I will try to post something every 2 or 3 days, as that is easy enough to do.

Now, let’s do it!

Back to Work – Let the Stress Begin!

I had all of last week off – 10 days total – and in that time period we celebrated two Thanksgiving, did a whole lot of baking and cooking, saw friends and family. In between, I managed to sketch and / or watercolor everyday. In that time period, I had a lot of fun and found myself feeling really glad to be painting again. Of course, some stuff was pure rubbish, but others produced a sense of satisfaction. Even better, I could begin to see progress. The connection between mind and hand and color and paper is beginning to return.

But now – can I keep this up? Certainly not at the pace I was doing it. But I have made a decision: I will use my photos as the basis for sketches and paintings, and try to turn out two a week minimum, perhaps three. When will I do it? In the mornings, while I drink my coffee, and instead of looking at the depressing global situation, I’ll look at lines and colors instead. Seems like a good deal, if you ask me!